Rest In Peace: Toddler Alfie Evans Has Passed Away

LONDON (AP) – Alfie Evans, the sick British toddler whose parents won support from Pope Francis during a protracted legal battle over his treatment, died early Saturday. He was 23 months old.

Kate James and Tom Evans made the announcement on social media, saying they were “heartbroken.” The death of Alfie, who had a rare degenerative brain condition, came five days after doctors removed life support.

Doctors overseeing Alfie’s care in the city of Liverpool said further treatment was futile and that he should be allowed to die, but his parents fought for months to try to convince judges to allow them to take him to the Vatican’s children’s hospital so he could be kept on life support. The parents’ campaign was backed by the pope and Christian groups, which helped draw international attention to the case.

The hospital withdrew Alfie’s life support Monday after a series of court rulings sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment.

“My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30,” Tom Evans said in Facebook post decorated with a broken heart and crying emojis.

The death came after an easing of tensions between the family and the hospital. Tom Evans, 21, had pledged to work with doctors to give his son “dignity and comfort,” as he called for a truce in the divisive case.

“Our lives have been turned upside down by the intense focus on Alfie and his situation,” Evans said Thursday outside Liverpool’s Alder Hey Hospital, where Alfie has been treated for more than a year.

He thanked the hospital staff “for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them too.”

It was a strikingly different tone from the one he struck earlier, when he said doctors were wrong about Alfie’s prognosis and threatened to resume his fight in court.

Alfie’s case received much attention outside Britain, especially in Catholic countries. Pope Francis appealed for the wishes of the boy’s parent to be heeded, saying only God can decide who dies. Italy even granted Alfie citizenship and put a military plane on standby to transport him to Rome if the courts allowed it.

Officials in largely Catholic Poland and Italy have implicitly criticized Britain’s courts and state-run National Health Service on the case.

Supporters prayed for the toddler in St. Peter’s Square to show solidarity with his parents, while in Warsaw people placed candles, teddy bears and notes in front of the British embassy.

Emotions have run high over the case, with supporters protesting regularly outside the hospital, at times trying to storm its entrance.

Alder Hey said staff had been subjected to a “barrage of highly abusive and threatening language and behaviour.”

Alfie’s mother, 20-year-old Kate James, posted that she was heartbroken over Alfie’s death but added, “thank you everyone for all your support.”